The South Herefordshire. 243 



as in North Hereford, form the bulk of the difficulties 

 he must learn to surmount, and, as there, determine 

 for himself whether he shall trust to his power of 

 spring or to his aptitude for creeping and doubling. 



A hound for South Herefordshire must, above all 

 virtues of fashion or appearance, possess a keen nose, 

 strong perseverance, and an untiring appetite for 

 work — to enable him to pick out a cold scent, to drive 

 through big woodlands, and to grapple with severe 

 hills. Mr. Rankin's pack, of some thirty-two couples, 

 owes its origin to sources distinguished for their 

 working qualities, such as the Oakley, Milton, 

 Pytchley, and Bramham Moor. It has of late 

 depended for its breeding on home blood, crossed 

 with the Ledbury, North Herefordshire, Monmouth- 

 shire, Llangibby, Old Berkeley, Sir W. W. Wynn's, 

 and others. 



Pursuing the geography of the country, it may be 

 noted that between Hereford and the Marcle Hills is 

 all a rough, hilly, and wooded country. About 

 Mordiford, for instance, there is a good deal of 

 woodland, the property of Captain Hereford. Down 

 either side of the Wye hill coverts continue in rapid 

 succession. The Woolhope district is much of this 

 type j and from Holm-Lacey, by Aconbury, and the 

 "Warren, to the Kennels is almost a chain of hilly 

 woodland. From Stoke Edith, the residence of Lady 

 Emily Foley, a string of great coverts follows the line 

 of the Marcle Hills to Peristone, the latter being the 

 starting-point of many a good run. The Marcle Hill 

 coverts are also the property of Her Ladyship ; and 

 foxes are alwavs plentiful. The broad rides of the 



